Yes, there are health benefits to eating grass-fed beef. But there are other advantages as well.
For example, rotating cattle through pastures by allowing them to intensively graze on young, shooting grass builds an inch of fertile top soil every year!
That’s because grass grows down as well as up. When a cow walks by and chews off the top of the grass, the plant sheds an equal amount of roots. Compare that to the standard way we feed industrialized cattle, where we lose up to 6 inches of top soil each year growing a giant sea of corn!
Plus, cows poop. Their manure fertilizes the field and eliminates the need for any synthetic petro-chemical inputs. How’s that for solving the overwhelming waste management pollution problem of confined animal feeding operations?
This video (essentially a commercial for Argentinian grass-fed beef) does a great job highlighting both the environmental and health benefits of grass-fed cattle:
So, do yourself AND your world a favor and eat Real Meat!
Where can I find grass-fed meats?
First, check out our Resources Page to find local farmers markets and ranchers who may have pastured meats available for sale. If that search doesn’t bear any fruit, check out the best online source for grass-fed meats — U. S. Wellness Meats.
They sell grass-fed beef and bison, free-range poultry, foraged pigs, wild caught seafood, as well as raw Amish cheeses and butter from pastured cows. Shipping is FREE (or, as they say, included in the cost of the meat), but there is a $7.50 handling charge on every order. Of course, the more you buy, the more you’ll save in handling fees. Plus when they have sales, you can get some pretty awesome deals.
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If you want to find LOCAL grassfed meats go to Eatwild ( http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html ) for a list pastured meat and dairy products by state. Also go to LocalHarvest.org as another source to find local farms and ranches.
For those of you in California, I work for Chaffin Family Orchards and we produce grassfed beef, lamb, goat, pastured chicken, and eggs. I have worked on quite a few cattle ranches both grassfed and organic and the beef here is by far the best I have ever tasted. It’s dry aged and well marbled. Its very tender and flavorful, no sharp grassy or gamey flavors. We don’t rush finishing times, we have a strong dedication to working within nature’s cycles and not rushing the process. Our native grasses are very mild and produce very mild flavored meats. We are also certified Predator Friendly which means we don’t hunt or trap any of the wild coyotes, bear, mountain lions, or bobcats that reside on our ranch. We want them there to keep the ecosystem that supports our farm and ranch alive and strong.
Thanks, Chris, for the info. Those sites are both linked to off our Real Food Resources page and are phenomenal directories. I buy a side of cattle every spring from a local rancher, and I couldn’t be more pleased. (I’m in Texas, BTW, or I’d be very interested in placing an order with you.)
Thanks for the informative article! I LOVE grass-fed beef 🙂 I wanted to let you know that your first link, to the health benefits of grass-fed beef, is broken.
Resources like the one you mentioned here will be very useful to me!
I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful.